...waiting...

You must give birth to your images.

They are the future waiting to be born ...

Fear not the strangeness you feel.

The future must enter you long before it happens ...

Just wait for the birth ... for the hour of clarity.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

I'm waiting.

...giveaway results...

It's time to announce the recipients of the giveaway!  First I must thank each and every one of you who entered by following my new blog, Pixel Dust Photo Art.  I wish I could give each of you one of the prizes!

To determine the 3 winners, I assigned a number (1.2.3.4.) to each entry in order of arrival.  (Some entries were registered on this blog, while some were made on my other blog.)  These numbers were submitted to Random.org's sequence generator and the three lucky recipients are:

1.  (Entrant #5)  Kari, who in her entry selected the texture collection

2.  (Entrant #10)  Stampmouse, who in her entry selected the texture collection

3.  (Entrant #2) Lorenzo, who in his entry selected the photo transformation

Congratulations to those who won!  A big thank you again to everyone who entered.  Check in frequently at Pixel Dust Photo Art, as more giveaways and freebies are on the way!  I will be in touch with each winner to confirm your choice of gift and to make arrangements for you to receive it.  Enjoy!!!

...last chance...

You still have a few hours left in which to enter the GiveAway being offered here this week.  There will be 3 'winners' who will each get to choose between two different gifts.  Just click HERE to learn how easy it is to participate.  You have until 5:00 p.m. EST today to enter.  Good luck!

Forbidden Fruit

"I dreamed that I floated at will in the great Ether, and I saw this world floating also not far off, but diminished to the size of an apple. Then an angel took it in his hand and brought it to me and said: "This must thou eat." And I ate the world."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The above picture, as you may recognize, is an edited version of my blog avatar. It is, in fact, a picture of my granddaughter taken a couple of years ago. She looks almost exactly like me at her age. When she was almost three years of age she would insist that pictures of me as a toddler were actually pictures of her. She became quite indignant when others would confirm that they were truly pictures of me. So the fact that the picture actually resembles me as a child is one reason for the selection of this photo for my avatar.

Another reason is that I love the image of a little female tot biting into the forbidden fruit. I have always sympathized with the Bible's first female, Eve, knowing that in her place I too would have defied what I see as unreasonable commands and picked the fruit. The forbidden bites are especially succulent AND when they are described as holding knowledge and life ... well ... I for one could not resist.

The choice of this image symbolizes my refusal to toe the line, to follow the flock, to obey arbitrary rules of the day, to renounce questioning, to restrain my instincts. A tree is meant to be climbed, the fruit at the top tasted and I have done so both boldly and timidly. While sometimes reaching for and tasting the apple has resulted in challenging situations, it has ultimately liberated me from moribund legacies and mind-crushing belief systems. I am grateful to have mustered the courage to take those little bites and am sure there will be many other forbidden fruits yet to taste.    :)

 

The piece above is the first collage I ever attempted (and it shows!).  It is, however, useful in this post to illustrate my fascination with 'forbidden fruit'.  As you may notice, it was done with images of Klimt paintings (clipped from a ready-to-fall-apart art book).  At the time I made the piece, I was not consciously aware of placing an image of Eve holding the apple, as the central image.  (It is the pale image of the naked woman with long dark hair.  She is holding an apple in her left hand.)  I wonder - is my fascination with Eve, the forbidden fruit, or both?

So, now those of you who have asked about the significance of the little girl eating the apple avatar have your answer.  :)

  And what about YOU?  How tempted are you by forbidden fruit?

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY offered for simply following both of my blogs.  You can learn about the 'prizes' and how to enter HERE.

A Giveaway To Celebrate A New Blog!

I am in the throes of creating a new blog which will host most of my digital photo/art postings.  I hope you will make your way over to this new blog and become a follower.  If you need a little encouragement, how about a giveaway with 3 winners?  Here is how we will proceed: 

 Each of the 3 winners will be able to choose one of two gifts: 

1)  the complete collection of 36 textures, "Pixel Dust Texture Collection 1", or

2) one of your own photographs transformed to give it a painterly feel. 

Here are the guidelines for the giveaway:

1.  Become a follower at both of my blogs.  If you are already a follower here, you have only to follow at Pixel Dust Photo Art.  If you are new to both blogs, the entry requirement would be to register to follow them both.   Leave a comment at the Pixel Dust blog, telling me that you are now following both blogs. 

2.  Include a way for me to contact you in the comment, such as the URL to your blog where I can access an e-mail address so that I can contact you when you win.

3.  Be sure to tell me in your comment which giveaway offer you prefer: 
1)  the texture collection, or
2) the photo transformation

The winners will be announced Thursday, April 28th at 6:00 p.m EST.  Therefore to make the selection with Random.org and write up the announcement post, no entries will be accepted after Thurs. April 28th at 5:00 p.m EST.

The winners will be posted on both blogs and I will contact you personally if you are one of the 3 winners.  If I discover there is no means to contact you, or do not hear back from you in 48 hours after I e-mail you, I will select the next name generated by Random.org as a replacement winner.

That's it.  Easy peasy.  So make your way over to Pixel Dust Photo Art, and good luck to all!  First let me tease you with a peek at what you could win:

You can win these 36 textures (a value of $30 US) by simply following at both of my blogs!  To see them in the larger 9 texture sets simply click HERE.


Below are before and after examples of what I mean by "transforming YOUR photograph into 'art'", which is the second giveaway option:

A SOOC photograph of shiny motorcycles at a

Harley-Davidson dealership.

The above image is the pixel dust edited version which has been manipulated to

achieve the look of a painting.  You can choose to have this technique applied

 to one of your photos should you win the giveaway. 

If you check out my static page about this service HERE, 

you will see this giveaway option has a value of $30 US.

Here an old, ready-for-the-delete-key shot.  Just look at the transformation below:

This is the type of transformation you can have on one of your photographs, if your name is chosen by Random.org.  Don't worry, I do not add my signature nor apply a watermark on the 'art' version of your photograph.  I usually send two different variations of your 'photo into art' to clients, so you get to choose the one your prefer.  To see more examples of what this 'pixel dust' technique can accomplish, click HERE.

I"ll be in touch when you win!!  :)

... a new blog ...

This blog has been trying to be the vehicle of expression for way too many of my interests.  After a lot of consideration, I have finally created a new blog for my digital photo/art passion.  It is entitled, Pixel Dust Photo Art, and as the image above tries to illustrate, it has left this blog in favor of a new home.  If you are interested in digital art, in fine art textures, in photo manipulation, in digital-editing resources you will want to check out Pixel Dust Photo Art.

Original Art Studio will continue as always, but now concentrating more on the content to which most of you had previously become accustomed.  Yes, I will still post some of my art to illustrate my posts here, but the majority of my digital-related posts will appear on the new Pixel Dust Photo Art blog.  I hope you will visit and become a follower!

Stay tuned for a fabulous giveaway to celebrate the opening of the new blog (my next post), open to all whether you are passionate about digital-editing or not!

perspective

Everything is Waiting for You

Your great mistake is to act the drama

as if you were alone. As if life

were a progressive and cunning crime

with no witness to the tiny hidden

transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny

the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,

even you, at times, have felt the grand array;

the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding

out your solo voice. You must note

the way the soap dish enables you,

or the window latch grants you freedom.

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

The stairs are your mentor of things

to come, the doors have always been there

to frighten you and invite you,

and the tiny speaker in the phone

is your dream-ladder to divinity.

 

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into

the conversation. The kettle is singing

even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots

have left their arrogant aloofness and

seen the good in you at last. All the birds

and creatures of the world are unutterably

themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

~ David Whyte

 Everything is Waiting for You

2003 Many Rivers Press

The Perfect Black Leather Bag

I'm always on the prowl for the next perfect, black leather bag, and I found it!  Don't you just love it?!!!

I did have to fore go my usual shopping haunts and visit a Harley-Davidson Boutique to find this exclusive, black leather bag.  Yes, I admit it is a Yamaha and not a Harley, but when you find the perfect accessory you just can't get hung up on designer labels.  When it's the one, you just know it and you have to grab it.

 It never occurred to me, with all my previous black leather bags, to add a little horsepower (excuse me CCs) and a couple of wheels.  This way the black bag won't dig deep, painful grooves into tender shoulders.

Then once you find the right one, you just HAVE to honor it by having it 'enshrined' for the true piece of 'art' that it is:

Click on the image to enlarge it - and enjoy the full impact!  :-)

 

Relate To, Not From

Do you read the delightful blog Friko's World (formerly Friko's Musings)?  Her post of yesterday and all the ensuing comments are a must read  -  for both the content and the writing.  Friko speaks of feelings of self-doubt and self-criticism we have all experienced at one time or another.  It seems to be a universal tendency to perceive ourselves as sometimes being less worthy than those around us, as 'not good enough'. 


Friko's post reminded me of something I learned many years ago from Stephen Levine, a gentle, modest, mindful soul who shared many of the mental/emotional training skills he taught to help reduce the suffering of patients in palliative care.  Among his many books are:  A Gradual Awakening;  Who Dies?;  Meetings at the Edge; each one full of wisdom and comfort.


Back to one of my favorite teachings of Stephen Levine.  He tells his readers to 'relate TO a feeling, rather than FROM a feeling', especially if it is not a good feeling, or one that will not lead to skillful actions.


So what does that mean, exactly?   Well, let's say I find myself immersed in a feeling of self-doubt or worthlessness.  If I buy into the feeling and believe it, I would be relating to myself and eventually to the world FROM that feeling.  Doubt and worthlessness would be where I would be 'coming FROM' in the way I think about and treat myself and also in the way I interact with others in the world.  BUT, if I can make a simple shift away from relating FROM the feeling, to relating TO the feeling it would look/sound something like this:


"Well there I go again, doubting myself.  It is an old feeling that has its origins in some childhood experiences and is not relevant to the person I am now.  I have accepted that I am a flawed person (like everyone else on the planet) and I love and accept myself regardless.  I have many competencies, that when in this mood, I have difficulty remembering.  I know feelings of worthlessness arise when old wounds get tweaked.  Feelings pass through my body/mind/emotions and are not the truth of who I am.  I acknowledge the feeling but I refuse to give it room to grow.  I have occasional feelings of worthlessness, but I, myself, am not worthless."


By relating TO the feeling you acknowledge its presence and don't go into denial about it.  You explain to the part of yourself that is pained by the feeling, the origins of the emotion and belief, and how based on the way you were treated it probably made perfect sense that the feeling was evoked - there - and then.  It is not the whole truth, and therefore, not appropriate now.  You remind yourself it is a feeling accompanied by thoughts - that you do not have to buy into.  You create some distance between you and the negative feeling/thought.  When you relate TO the feeling and NOT FROM the feeling you have assumed the stance of 'the witness'.  You witness the bumpy ride your emotions cause, rather than getting caught spinning in circles on that not so merry-go-round.


Here is a visual reminder to relate TO and NOT FROM debilitating feelings.  You are welcome to download this image for your archives and use it to help yourself and your loved ones.  My only request is that you do not claim it as your own, and if you use it on your blog make a link back to the source.  :-)  Please click HERE to download the image.

(Yes, for you long-time readers of this blog, I have previously posted about this helpful mental/emotional shift.)

...light/shadow...

Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.

~ Goethe

 

Though my soul may set in darkness

it will rise in perfect light.

I have loved the stars too fondly

to be fearful of the night.

~ Sarah Williams

photograph of dried leaves turned into art

Yes, this little photo of leaves that fell off a houseplant, with the application of the two textures below became a photo worthy of the addition of Thomas Paine's quote.  There are many ways to create a world again ... even the world of leaves ready to be tossed in the compost.



 Pixel Dust Texture Set 1 #3  (To view the complete Set, click HERE)
This was the first texture I added to the above photo.

Pixel Dust Texture Set III #1  (To view the complete set, click HERE) 

This is the second texture added to complete the transformation of the photograph.

The same photograph, the same addition of my two new textures, a couple of tweaks in Photoshop to add a painterly touch, and you now have a piece of photo art!  Easy peasy.  You can do it too!

A New Texture Collection

I'm so excited to present my Pixel Dust Texture Collection I to you.  It is comprised of 4 sets of 9 textures which can each be purchased separately.  You can also purchase the entire collection, all 4 sets (36 textures) to enjoy a significant saving.

Each 9 texture set contains a sampling, from among the following different types of textures:

• ones that leave a Monet-like, impressionist look on your photograph
• others that impart the always sought-after vintage touch
• others that add a dramatic, illuminated flare
• others that will provide a textured, marbleized background and border 
• others that leave a subtle French Linen fabric look
• others with a  gossamer layer which imparts a soft, romantic feel
• and some with the grunge factor that is so much in demand 

All of the high resolution textures have been tested on a variety of photographs and offer stunning transformations that shift according to the blending mode and opacity level you choose.  This means that one set can give you many more options than the actual nine textures in the set.  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

 

 

Pixel Dust Texture Set I  ~  9 textures for $10 US  ~  To purchase click  HERE

Pixel Dust Texture Set II  ~  9 textures for $10 US  ~  To purchase click HERE

Pixel Dust Texture Set III  ~  9 textures for $10 US  ~  To purchase click HERE

Pixel Dust Texture Set IV  ~  9 textures for $10 US  ~  To purchase click HERE

Pixel Dust Texture Collection I  ~  All 36 textures for $30 US  ~  To purchase click HERE

Texture #5 from Set I and Texture #2 from Set III can be seen applied to photographs of wilting daffodils by clicking HERE.



weekends: a time to connect

Weekends seem to be designed for stopping, resting, chatting, catching up.  While there is always a load of work to be done in the Spring, hope you find time to rest and reconnect this weekend.  I'm going to make it one of my priorities.  E.M. Forster put it best when, in the epigraph to his novel Howards End, he so succinctly said:

  "Only connect."

Spring chez moi

It takes a while for Spring to emerge here in the NorthEast.  There are still a few small pockets of snow left in shady areas, while sunny spots are spouting green grass and moss.  Here are three digitally-edited photographs of trees on our property, including views of a bridge or two, and a shot of the stream full to bursting from melting snow running off the nearby mountain.  The textures added to the first three photographs give a little 'pop' to what would otherwise be grey-sky Spring shots.

A very old pear tree that still produces delicious fruit inspite of its hollowed trunk (perhaps that should read hallowed).  We wonder each year if it will still be able to muster the energy to produce its pears.

 

A giant poplar.

 

The same giant poplar in the foreground stands guard over the brook below and the wooden bridge above.  A little stone footbridge can be seen in the distance.

A shot of the brook on a sunny day a week or so ago when the water was gushing with snow melt from the mountain.  You can tell that water is VERY cold, can't you? 

Thanks for dropping by.  I will be posting more photographs documenting the phases of Spring's arrival here.

"between whom ..."

Haiku Weary

Hey - time for a little controversy: Brian of WaystationOne just wrote another of his incisive poems about the packaging of "truth" for public conscumption (left the typo in on purpose!) which he titled, "one stop: this is not a haiku".  His piece is not about haiku per se, but it seems he wanted to alert haiku-weary bloggers like myself that his post was not another distorted form of haiku we see everywhere in the blogosphere.  

Haiku weary (of the forms seen on so many blogs) and after a little e-mail commiseration on the topic with Brian, I was motivated to do some research and found that because of the current viral contagion of this poetic form in the West, a moniker has been assigned to the 17 syllable form, called "pseudo-haiku". 

A haiku true to its original form should contain a seasonal reference, not be subjective, and contain a line that juxtaposes in clear contrast to the other two.  Rarely do blog-posted haiku even meet one of the criteria, let alone all three.

I'm sure this ancient form of poetry is even more involved than my little condensation of requirements for the form presented above - and I am certainly no expert on the topic.  I do know, however, that Basho, Haiku Master said every haiku should pass a thousand times over the tongue before it is accorded a written form.  Most of Basho's haiku were based on the senses, were direct, sincere, contemplative and an integral part of his spiritual practice.  There is an existential vibration of loneliness often found in his haiku too.  Here's an example from Matsuo Basho, the master:

Lonely stillness ...

a single cicada's cry

sinking into stone

The original requirements for true haiku are rarely seen in the sorry slurry of  seventeen syllables presented on so many blogs these days. 

I have been conducting my own (up until now silent) mini-protest to the pseudo-ization of the form by refusing to leave a comment on any blog that drops in a distortion of haiku as one would drop a comma in a compound phrase. 

Please peeps - if you are going to take up an ancient art form at least do a little research on it to understand its origins and purpose.  Confer respect, time and thought on what you represent as a haiku.  Have you, for example, uttered your haiku out loud to see how it trips off the tongue?  Because haiku seems like a simple form, does not mean it is an easy form to create.

Pseudo-haiku, for some reason, offend my senses and are a sure measure to get  me to click away from your blog.  After reading the WaystationOne piece "one stop:  this is not a haiku", I was happy to discover I am not alone in this reaction.


I can hear some of you screaming, "Well I'm about as interested in your photoshop editing as you are in my 'pseudo' haiku!"  I get that we are not all interested in every topic someone posts.  I am talking about an art form being trivialized, distorted and thereby disrespected - not about whether something interests me or not. 

Okay - hit me with your feedback.  I'm braced for your slings and arrows!  :-)

"Pixel Dusted" Daffodils

Folding in upon themselves

 Once moist petals 

Now parched and transparent

 Droop and prepare to drop 

Light refracts through the palliated petals

Still projecting a withered radiance 

Fragile, filamented flesh fades and folds 

And as the juice nourishing them drains away 

A quiet, dignified beauty remains 

for those who have

eyes to see

SOOC shot of drying daffodils

With the application of two new textures, I've created a little

piece of digital art from the above photograph.

This is the first texture applied to the daffodils.  It is one of the new textures I will be sharing in my upcoming Pixel Dust Texture Collection.  This texture is #5  from Pixel Dust Set I (soon to be featured here).  After applying the Monet-like texture over the levels adjusted photograph, I adjusted it to 80% Opacity in the Blending Mode, "Multiply".  A Layer Mask was used to remove some of the texture from the petals.  My brush was set to 88% to do that.  I decided to experiment with the addition of a second texture.

The next texture applied was the above texture #2 from the Pixel Dust Texture Set III (soon to be featured here).  The Blending Mode of "Hard Light" was used and left at 100%.  Again, I applied a Layer Mask to remove some of the texture from the petals, setting my brush at 85%.  I was surprised to see light and a golden tone emerge as I brushed bits of the blue texture away.  Wow - I did not anticipate that effect!  Once complete I changed my foreground color to white, reduced the brush size to 10% and brushed back a bit of texture just to minimize harsh edges.

Again, the photo shown at the beginning of this post with the two new textures applied.  Click on the image to enlarge, and enjoy its real beauty.  I tried it on another drying daffodil photograph to see if it would reproduce the same effect:

Second photograph using the same texture and blending mode adjustments.  Now, I wondered would the same effect be produced on a photograph that was not of transparent petals ...

This is the non-flower photo I decided to test with the two above textures.

A photograph of a rather barren looking restaurant, now given life and light with the addition of magical "pixel dust" from the addition of two textures.   (The same blending modes, opacity adjustments, layer masks and techniques were employed.)  I love the warm glow emanating from the restaurant.  And, as you know by now, I LOVE TEXTURES.

Can't wait to show you the textures I have created, so here is a sneak peek.  Small groupings of the collection will also be presented in the next couple of days, so stay tuned!

OAS Pixel Dust Texture Collection I

...child of a separation...